Y-istlet eor pneumatic-despatch-tube apparatus



A. W. PEARSALL.

Y-INLET FOR PNEUMATIC DESPATCH TUBE APPARATUS. APPLICATION man JUNE s, 1916. n'zuswso JUNE 3. I919.

1,309,598, Patented July 8, 1919.

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ALBERT W. PEARSALL, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

Y-INLET FOR PNEUMATIC-DESPATCH-TUBE APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 8, 1919.

Application filed June 6, 1916, Serial No. 102,078. Renewed June 3, 1919. Serial No. 301,539.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT W. PEARSALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Y-Inlets for Pneumatic Despatch Tube Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to inlets for pneumatic despatch tube apparatus and more especially to a Y-inlet for pressure systems.

The invention has for one of its objects the provision of a valved branch in a despatch tube through which carriers may be introduced into said tube; the branch and its valve being so shaped and disposed wit-h respect to each other and to the tube as to waste a minimum amount of air under pressure from the tube, the device having a single valve only at the entrance to be passed by the carriers being despatched through the inlet, this valve opening inwardly.

Another object is to provide an inlet for either upward or downward despatch of carriers by so constructing said inlet as to insure the immediate subjection of the carrier, after its insertion into one of the arms or forks of the Y-shaped casing past the inlet valve, to practically the full force of the air current traversing the tube, the other arm of the Y-inlet casing being included in the transmission tube line so that through carriers normally pass freely therethrough.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a stop for such of these through carriers as would collide with a carrier being despatohed at the Y-inlet; this stop being preferably controlled by and mounted upon the suspending element of the inlet valve.

These and other objects of my invention will be hereinafter referred to and the novel con'lbinations of means and elements whereby said objects may be attained will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawing which forms a part hereof and in which like reference characters designate like parts in the respective views, I have exemplified a preferred embodiment of my invention; but as I am aware of various changes and modifications which may be made herein without departing from the spirit of said invention, I desire to be limited only by the scope of the claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a Y-inlet in position in a, line of transit tubing.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of said inlet.

Fig. 3 is a detail section taken on line III-III of Fig. 1; the section being drawn to a larger scale than that used in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 is a detail section taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 9.; this section corresponding in scale to Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation partly broken away, showing the inlet reversely disposed in the transit tube line, for the upward dcspatch of carriers.

The transit tube sections or parts shown have been designated 1 and constitute portions of the transmission line through which carriers are propelled by compressed air. As best shown in Fig. 1, the respective ends of the inlet casing 52, are recessed for the reception of the corresponding tube sections, as at 33; the parts being oined together so as to form air-tight joints.

The casing 2 is-provided with a carrierreceiving branch 2 and this branch is preferably as short as possible. As shown in Fig. 1, this branch is so proportioned with respect to the length of the carrier 41:, which is inserted therethrough, that substantially as soon as the rear head of this carrier has passed in through the inserting orifice, the forward end or head of said carrier is disposed directly in the path of the air current traversing the tube 1 the forward head of the carrier very nearly closing the neck of the inlet casing, which when the inlet is disposed as shown in Fig. l, is at the lower end thereof. In consequence, the carrier is practically at once subjected to the propulsive effort of the pressure fluid, and is promptly drawn clear of the valve 5 which normally closes the inlet orifice.

This valve opens inwardly and is pivoted upon a shaft 6 which is fixedly mounted in -the casing substantially at the crotch of the latter.

Between the hubs 7' of the arm 7 which carries the valve 5, is a spring 8 which normally holds the valve in its closed position; while the pressure fluid also tends to keep the valve 5 against its seat 9. The valve seat is preferably made separate from the casing 2 and is screwed fast thereto by bolts or screws 10, or the like.

The valve seat 9 also preferably has a belled mouth 9 to facilitate the introduction of the carrier. In this connection, the mounting of the valve so that it opens inwardly is of considerable importance; since in order to introduce a carrier into the line through this inlet, it is merely necessary to thrust the forward head of the carrier into the bell mouth 9, against the valve 5, until the latter has been opened sufiiciently to allow the carrier to drop down into the easing, if the latter be disposed as shown in Fig. 4, whereupon the air current promptly draws the carrier clear of the valve which is then closed by its spring.

By thus mounting the valve for inward movement, not only is the ingress of the carrier facilitated, but other advantages are gained which will now be pointed out. 7

Then the valve 5 is opened, some of the air escapes through the bell-mouth; but the inward emplacement of the valve, at such time, together with the shape of the outstanding carrier-introducing branch, 2 which is such as to dispose the carrier so as itself to tend to obstruct the emergence of the compressed air through said branch, tend to maintain an effective pressure of the air current against the forward head or end of the inserted carrier to insure its prompt despatch.

To further obstruct the outflow of air through the bell-mouth,I prefer to provide a tongue-like lug 11, which turns arcuately around the axis of the valve arm 7 and is interposed between thevalve and its shaft 6.

As best shown in Fig. 3, this tongue 11 coacts with the hubs 7 of the arm 7, and withthe bosses 12, through which the shaft 6 projects, to block a considerable portion of the space or opening through which the compressed air might otherwise escape when the valve is open.

To still further block this opening, 1 prefer to provide lugs 13, upon the inner side of the valve-seat member; these lugs of course being cut away to permit the valve to open freely, but otherwise filling much of the unoccupied space adjacent the d'espatch ing orifice, through which air might escape when the valve is open.

The despatching branch of the inlet may therefore properly be said to have provisions to cause a carrier being despatched to co-act with the inwardly opened valve and parts associated therewith to very materially and sensibly obstruct the outflow of air through the despatching orifice, when a carrier is being despatched.

The valve 5 is also preferably provided with a boss or extension 5, which when the valve is in its closed position occupies a portion of the belled mouth at the despatch ing orifice, as indicated in dotted lines at 5" in Fig. 4. This provision also tends to 0bstruct the inadvertent escape of pressure fluid when the valve is being opened, while further the boss 5 is preferably made of metal or the like, which presents a smooth and relatively' hard wearing surface across which the felt heads of the carrier may freely move; the valve 5, being preferably of leather, or the like.

In order that the valve may seat itself closely and snugly against its seat, when in its closed position, I prefer to provide a connectionbetween it and its arm 7 ,which permits of some wabbling or tilting movement of the valve, in any direction, with respect to its supporting arm. Thus, the valve may be provided with a stem 14, of slightly smaller diameter than the aperture 14 which receives this stem; and correspondingly the apertures 15 in the respective sides of the arm 7 are slightly larger in diameter than the greatest width of the split or cotter pins 16 which pass through these apertures and through th stem 14.

In order to prevent possible blocking of the way due to the collision and wedging together of carriers in the inlet, I prefer to provide means controlled by the valve which obstruct the entrance of through carriers into the casing when a carrier is being inserted into the line through the branch; or conversely, for obstructing the introduction of a carrier into the branch when a through carrier has already partially entered into the inlet casing.

In Figs. 4 and 5, I have shown a lug or finger 17 mounted upon the arm 7 in such fashion that when the valve 5 occupies a position in which it is sufiiciently open to permit of the ingress of a carrier 4, said finger 17 will then be so disposed as to act as a stop for any through carrier 4 which has not as yet entered the casing but which is just about to do so.

As indicated in Fig. 5, if the forward end of the through carrier 4, has already entered the casing, then any attempt to open the valve 5 will result in bringing th lug 17 into engagement with the side of such through carrier, and until the latter has passed this lug, said valve 5 cannot be opened.

It will be observed that the design and construction of the despatching inlet herein described is equally well adapted for upward, downward or any other direction of despatch, depending on th convenience of the user. This is due to the coaction of the parts shown and described with the current of air flowing in the transit tubes 1. lVhen the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 4, the valve 5 is thrown across the flow in the through branch 3, effectively restricting the opening in the tube and increasing the velocity of the air current at this point, and permits the head of the incoming carrier 4 to enter the stream so contracted. Flow of air from the transit tube outwardly through the entrance opening is not only diverted by this means, but the tendency of the moving blast in the tube 1 is to-take the air in through'the inlet. When the carrier 4 has entered, it will therefore be swept into the transit tube without reference to ravity. This behavior of the apparatus ena les the use of the same inlet construction for upgoing and downgoing tubes, which is an advantage of convenience and cost in installing such systems.

My improved despatching inlet may be disposed in any position desired, and the operator in despatching a carrier has merely to thrust the forward end of said carrier into the bell-mouth of the inlet and against the valve, to force the latter open and then to continue the insertion of the carrier until the latter has been moved fully into the despatching b 'anch, when substantially the full force of the air current will be at once exerted against the carrier to draw it clear of the valve and permit the latter to close.

Collisions between through carriers and carriers being despatched are substantially impossible, since one or the other of the carriers will always gain the right of way and the other will be held up until the way is again open for it to proceed.

The valve and its supporting parts and attached obstructing lug or fingers are the only movable elements in the device, and thereby the likelihood of the apparatus getting out of order is reduced substantially to a minimum.

Finally, it may be pointed out that owing to the provision of the boss 5' on the valve 5, practically nowear even of the lowermost portion of said valve, as viewed in its open position in Fig. 4, occurs due to the passage of the carrier therepast; since even when the rear head of the inserted carrier clears the boss, the carrier will then normally be moving with such velocity that the spring will be unable to overcome the inertia of the valve parts in time sutlieient to move said lowermost portion of the valve proper into engagement with the rear head of the carrier; or in other words, the rear head of the arrier will, in effect, pass or jump from the boss 5, clear or practically clear of the valve proper.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. Pneumatic despatch tube apparatus having therein an inlet casing comprising a through branch and a transit tube in line therewith, an inlet branch, and a valve pivoted to swing about a center substantially at the junction of said branches, said valve having a stop thereon adapted when the valve is open to extend into the path of carriers moving in the through branch and to stop said carriers short of contact with the valve proper, said stop being "further adapted to take against a carrier already in the through branch, to prevent opening a valve until such carrier shall have passed.

2. In pneumatic despatch tube apparatus the combination of a pneumatic tube through which carriers are transmitted by com pressed air, a forked casing in the line of said tube for introducing carriers into said tube at a point along the length thereof, one part of said tube delivering through carriers to one endol said casing for movement through the latter toward and into another part of said tube, said casing having a neck portion with a branch leading toward the latter and said other part of said tube receiving from said neck portion the carriers despatched through said branch as well as said through carriers, an inwardly opening, normally closed valve in said branch, said valve being pivoted substantially at the crotch of said forked casing, and air-obstructing lugs, adjacent the point of introduction of carriers which travel along said branch, and co-acting with a carrier being despa'tched and with said valve, for impeding the escape of air past said valve when said carrier is moving past the latter.

In pneumatic despatch tube apparatus the combination of a pneumatic tube through which warriors are transmitted by compressed air, a Y-inlet casing in the line of said tube "for introdlu-ing carriers into said tube at a point along the length thereof, one part of said tube delivering through carriers to one end of said casing for movement through the latter toward and into another part of said tube, said casing having a neck portion with a short tubular branch leading toward the latter and said other part 01 said tube receiving from said neck portion the carriers despatched through said branch as well as said through carriers, a normally closed valve pivoted at the crotch of said Y-inlct casing and substantially at the carrier receiving mouth of said branch. and means projecting from the under side of said valve "for preventing opening movement of said valve to permit of the insertion of a carrier when one of said through carriers has already entered said casing and would collide with the inserted carrier.

In testimony whereof I have allixed my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT \V. PEAR'SALL. l/Vitnesses CnAnLns O. LAURIN, RUTH E. FISKE.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

